Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
XANDER
She opened the door with an angry scowl beneath the green, crusty stuff she had slathered over her face.
“Jesus, Shortcake. What’s all over your face?”
“It’s a mask,” she answered bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest. “It’s supposed to exfoliate while helping me to relax.”
I figured by her expression and the tone of her voice it wasn’t doing its job on the second front, but I didn’t point that out. Instead, I held up the bag in my hand and said, “Chinese. Since I wrecked your lunch plans, I thought I’d try and fix it with dinner.”
Her only response was to arch an eyebrow, which made the mask crack along her forehead.
“I’m sorry, baby,” I said quietly as my gut clenched. “I was an asshole.”
I wasn’t sure what to expect when it came to her response, but I’d hoped an apology would at least get me through the door.
It didn’t.
“You know, by my count you’ve treated me like shit four times and had to apologize to me twice in the past twenty-four hours. Have to say, Xander, I’m not thrilled with that pattern.”
The twisting stopped and my stomach went hollow, which felt about a million times worse.
Being so close to her and not being able to touch her was a special kind of torture, so I moved in and whispered, “It’s not gonna happen again, Sage.
I swear. I lost my shit earlier, and that never should’ve happened. I’m so sorry.”
She went quiet for a beat, looking down at her feet in contemplation before returning her eyes back to me. “Someone told me that apologies stop meaning anything when you have to give them constantly.”
“I’ll do better,” I replied quickly. “Just let me come in, baby. Please.”
I could see the hesitance on her face, and each second that ticked by was excruciating, but she finally blew out a long breath and stepped aside so I could enter, closing the door behind me.
“Dishes are in the cabinet above the toaster. Silverware’s in the drawer by the fridge. Plate that up while I go wash this off my face. Then we’re gonna talk while we eat.”
What she’d just said wasn’t exactly promising, but at least I was inside. Unable to help myself any longer, when she moved to pass by me, I looped my arms around her waist and pulled her back. “I know I’m already on shaky ground here, but could I at least kiss you first?”
Her eyes warmed, and some of the hardness moved out of her features. “This isn’t really conducive to kissing,” she said, waving a hand around her face.
It wasn’t a hard and fast no, so I decided to chance it. Since the crap on her face got in the way of her mouth, I bent lower and brushed my lips again the pulse in her neck, inhaling the scent of lilies and something else.
Pulling back, I looked down at her and lifted my brows. “I don’t know if that shit’s exfoliating your skin or not, but it smells fuckin’ fantastic.”
“I-it’s uh . . .” She cleared her throat, that one little kiss leaving her flustered.
“It’s cucumber and honey. Eden made it for me.
” I let out a low, appreciative hum and leaned back in, pulling in a deeper breath.
“Don’t lick it,” she blurted. “Eden was very clear about that. Apparently Nona made mention once that it smelled good enough to eat, so she stressed that it isn’t. ”
I stood tall and chuckled, my lips tipping into a grin as I looked down at her. “Don’t worry, baby. Had no intention of licking it. Go wash it off so we can eat and talk, yeah?”
She nodded and started to walk away when I tagged her hand and stopped her. “I mean it, Sage,” I started when she looked back at me. “I’m gonna do better. You have my word.”
Then I let her go, and as she disappeared down the hall, all I could do was hope she’d give me a chance to prove it.
Because I couldn’t give her up. Not when I’d just gotten her.
Sage
Okay.
Well, shit.
He had skill, I’d give him that. When he kissed me, I found it nearly impossible to think, and that tiny, sweet brush of his lips on my neck was no less powerful than the hungry, hard kisses he’d given me before.
And it was smart, him bringing food. One of the best ways to butter me up when you screwed up was to feed me. I was a simple girl like that.
I quickly washed the gunk off my face, pushing the thought that this would be the first time Xander would see me without makeup out of my mind.
I didn’t have time to slap anything on, and even if I did, it would’ve been obvious, and I didn’t want him to think I was trying to impress him or anything like that.
By the time I made it to the kitchen, Xander had plates sitting in front of my two barstools with silverware and napkins laid out beside them and was unloading what looked like a million cartons onto the counter.
“What did you do? Buy out the whole place?”
He turned to me with a grin that made my belly swoop. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got a bit of everything.”
My stomach chose that moment to let out a loud growl of appoval.
There were egg rolls, lettuce wraps, General Tso chicken, Shrimp Lo Mein, and beef and broccoli.
And those were just the containers I could recognize.
There were five others full of stuff I wouldn’t be able to identify until I tried them.
He started loading up his plate, and I got this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach.
You know the one, it’s what every high school girl who’s ever crushed on the captain of the football team feels when she watches a movie in which the hot, popular jock falls for the nerdy, artsy girl.
It was a combination of giddiness, excitement, and hope all wrapped in one squishy, fluffy package.
Like I said, this guy was totally under my skin.
“Um, do you want something to drink? I have water, soda, and beer.”
“Water’s good,” he answered. “But I’ll get our drinks. You take a load off.”
He moved around my kitchen with sure, confident strides, like he’d been in my space a million times. It was like he had alpha-man ESP or something, moving straight to the cabinet where I kept my glasses, asking, “What do you want, Shortcake?” as he pulled two down.
“Beer please.” I had a feeling I was going to need it.
He replaced one of the glasses, put the other under the water dispenser in the fridge door and filled his glass, then opened it and pulled out a beer for me. He even removed the cap and tossed it in the trash on his way back.
“Thanks,” I mumbled as he passed it to me and took his seat.
I followed suit, spooning food onto my plate and digging in.
“Sage,” Xander called from beside me after a handful of minutes passed in complete silence.
I looked up as I popped a shrimp into my mouth. “Hmm?”
“Baby, say somethin’. Yell at me for being a dick if that’s what you wanna do, just say something. Back at the office you said you were so mad you didn’t know where to start. Start anywhere. I’m here now, so go through everything.”
I set my fork on my plate and turned my body toward him. I wiped my mouth with the napkin and pulled in deep breath. “All right. How about I start with the fact that you announced our . . . whatever this is to anyone who was there to hear without even discussing it with me first?”
His forehead creased with a scowl. “So you wanted to keep us a secret?”
“Not necessarily. But I would’ve liked to have a say in how it went down. I haven’t been there long enough to get a full understanding on all the policies, and if one of those happened to be ‘no fraternizing within the company’ I would have liked to discuss keeping our personal lives personal.”
“That’s not a policy,” he said quickly, the frown remaining firmly in place.
“I know that. Now. But it doesn’t change the fact you didn’t take what I wanted, or my feelings on the matter, into account at all before making your little announcement.
This is my job, Xander. And even if you guys think administrative work is boring, I actually like it.
I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life, and all of them pretty much sucked.
I love working at Alpha Omega, and how things went down today put that in jeopardy. ”
He gave that some thought before admitting, “You’re right,” as a look of contrition passed over his face.
“And while we’re on that topic, how you went about making our personal lives known was very uncool.
Using the fact that we’d had sex as a weapon to throw in another person’s face isn’t okay.
It showed a complete lack of respect and made me feel like I was no more important than the women you picked up at Rebels.
I’m not like them, Xander, and if you don’t get that, we have a serious problem. ”
“You’re nothing like them,” he said fiercely, leaning in closer.
“Yes, I’m aware of that. I know my worth, and I’m worth more than being treated like a piece of ass some guy thinks he can run around bragging about, like he’s just checked a box on a scorecard by nailing me.”
“Sage, I—”
I held my hand up to silence him. “I’m not a piece of property either,” I said fiercely. After all, I’d been that to someone once before, and I’d be damned if that would ever happen again. “The quickest way you can lose me is by acting like I belong to you. I don’t belong to anyone.”
His hands shot out so fast I didn’t have time to react before he gently grabbed hold of me on either side of my neck and pulled me in, resting his forehead against mine.
“I’m sorry, Sage. I know sayin’ that doesn’t count for much after what I’ve done, but it’s true.
I just . . . I’ve watched him flirt with you for a month, and it’s been killin’ me.
When I saw Bryce holding you like that I lost it. ”
“Something else you don’t know about me is that I don’t cheat. And if I’m sleeping with someone, whether we’ve discussed being exclusive or not, he’s the only person I’m sleeping with. It’s just how I am.”
“It wasn’t you, it was Bryce.”